AP Photo/The Asbury Park Press/Tim McCarthyJames Russell in an Oct. 14, 2008 file photo.OCEAN COUNTY -- Four men are standing trial for the street gang-related hit of a Lakewood woman, but three of them are in the courtroom on the word of a liar who wanted to make a name for himself in the Bloods, attorneys for the accused men argued in their closing statements today.

Prosecutors nevertheless contend the four suspects, who have been on trial the past three weeks, devised an intricate scheme, orchestrated from the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, to have a key witness in a murder trial executed along with innocent bystanders.

As the trial of the accused killers approaches its conclusion, arguments by all the attorneys focused on the testimony of gang member Joseph Powell, who implicated Jamell Scott, James Russell, Trishawn Cochran and Lee C. Reeves in the Oct. 14, 2008 fatal shooting of Athelma Vazquez, 55.

Reeves, 21, has admitted to shooting Vazquez, but testified Tuesday that he did so at the order of Powell, who he claimed was his superior in the Bloods.

Reeves’ attorney, Robert Konzelman, argued his client, born to a crack-addicted mother who all but abandoned him, joined the gang to find a place to belong. Reeves testified that Powell, while brandishing a handgun, told him he’d be killed if he didn’t follow through.

"This case is a little more complicated because Lee is saying, ‘They would have killed me if I didn’t kill,’" Konzelman told the jury of 11 women and six men sitting in Toms River. "He shouldn’t die an old man in prison. You have it in your power to prevent that."

Pursuing a duress defense, Konzelman said Reeves knows he won’t be acquitted of all charges, but asked jurors to consider a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter or manslaughter that would subject him to 10 years in prison.

Noah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerTrishawn Cochran talks to his public defender Frank Gonzalez during his first appearance at the Ocean County Justice Complex. Trishawn is one of four suspects in the shooting of a witness in a murder trial.All four Lakewood men are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit witness tampering and burglary. Reeves is also charged with a weapons offense.

Powell testified last week he passed on messages to Scott, 23, who was in the county jail. Powell said he initially thought the messages had to do with delivering clothes to the jail for Scott’s pending murder trial last year, but then realized it was an order to kill.

Prosecutors have said Scott and Russell, 24, ordered Reeves to kill Christian Vivar Granados, a Lakewood man who was scheduled to testify at Scott and Russell’s murder trial last year, and anyone else in the apartment with Granados. But Reeves got only as far as pumping three shots into Vazquez, who was sleeping on a couch in the living room of her Cottage Manor apartment, before the gun jammed, prosecutors said. Granados was staying with Vazquez, the mother of his girlfriend.

Defense attorneys took turns trying to rip apart Powell’s testimony and his credibility.

On the stand, Powell denied having any conversations with Reeves about the killing, but Reeves testified he got his orders from Powell.

"Mr. Powell wanted to be a hero. He wanted to move up in the Bloods world. He was tired of running a switchboard. He was tired of running errands," said George Somers, Scott’s attorney. ‘‘If it had gone the right way, Mr. Powell would’ve been sitting up there in the Bloods…and he didn’t even have to risk his own life.

First Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Ronald DeLigny reminded jurors of five witnesses and a secretly recorded conversation involving Reeves identifying Scott as his superior, or his "big homie."

DeLigny accused Reeves of taking on the hit himself when other members could not reach Cochran to gain a higher status in the gang. He said Reeves devised a "last-minute tale" implicating Powell and mitigating his co-defendants because of the repercussions he would face as a gang member.

"Lee Reeves murdered for the gang. Murdered for the gang. You think he won’t get up on the stand and lie for the gang? Of course he will. He has every reason to lie and deceive. He’s going down. He’s going to jail."

Powell, 24, of Toms River, pleaded guilty July 31 to conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit witness tampering and a weapons charge. He could have faced 20 years in prison, but the plea agreement reduces that to up to 10 years, a deal that Russell’s attorney, Edward Washburne, said gave Powell every incentive to lie.

"Mr. Powell is a classic example of a toxic combination of manipulation and opportunism," Washburne told the jury.

Cochran’s attorney, Mark Fury, told jurors his client, now 23, stopped answering phone calls from fellow Bloods weeks before the killing and moved to Eatontown to try to get out of the gang.